Now that the Republicans are in control of the City of Irvine’s Council, it is time to go after the turncoat Republicans who supported ousted Irvine Mayor Larry Agran.

“Incredibly, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas produced a last-minute robocall for Agran’s frantic re-election campaign,” according to R. Scott Moxley, over at the OC Weekly.

But wait – there are a few more Republican traitors:

“This is outrageous,” said Allan Bartlett, an Irvine Republican who already wasn’t happy that fellow Republicans Adam Probolsky, Patrick B. Strader and Dave Gilliard had also worked to aid Agran in his mayoral race against Republican Steven Choi.

Inexcusable! None of these people should be allowed to ever again work on a Republican’s campaign.

Kudos to my friend Jim Bieber, whose hit piece on Agran sealed the deal, according to Frank Mickadeit over at the O.C. Register:

The other side had some pretty good mail of its own. Maybe the most devastating piece featured a photo of D.A.

Tony Rackauckas with this quote: “Larry Agran weakened Irvine’s sex-offender ordinance so that most sex offenders are able to roam freely in Irvine’s parks.” There was a mug shot of an actual sex offender, plus a grainy photo of Agran, a smiling shot of T-Rack, and a staged photo of a guy in a hoodie eyeing a toddler on a jungle gym. It was a Jim Bieber special if I ever saw one, with Bieber himself portraying the pervert.

“We shot it at the playground down the street,” the hit-mail maestro told me proudly as we chatted at the Westin. (A few days after that piece dropped, Agran got T-Rack to do a robo-call emphasizing that sex offenders were not actually roaming Irvine’s parks.)

T-Rack lied by the way, when he said he made the robocall because the anti-Agran mailer Bieber designed was unfair and untrue, as revealed by Moxley:

After Rackauckas entered a restricted Republican Party election night room protected by two guards, multiple sources told me facts that he’d omitted from our interview: The DA had personally approved the mailer before it hit mailboxes. He’d even written a quote used in the piece.

Caught red-handed! And even better, Choi walked right up to T-Rack at Tuesday’s OC GOP Election Night Party and he told the D.A. to go party with the Democrats! You have to love Choi!

Don’t get me wrong. I realize that Council races are non-partisan. But Agran is not only a Democrat – he is a vile career politician who has mispent millions of dollars on the Great Park. I am hoping that he will land in jail after the new Council majority audits what he and Beth Krom did with all that money…

Point of fact: Jimmy Camp did not work on this campaign. At all. Unlike this person Allen Bartlett, I know. I am his wife. I see the checks that come into his company, I know the client list. A dozen other likewise informed people could tell you the same. What you have done here is publish hearsay–unsubstantiated rant, without any fact checking. How unfortunate for your own credibility.

It is not on me to “take this up with Bartlett.” Let me explain a few elements of Journalism 101 to you: The burden of verifying information falls to you, the publisher of said information. Scott Moxley himself would explain this to you, I’m sure: What you have done is used a secondary source and acted as if it were gospel, without yourself going to Bartlett and asking him for the evidence of his accusations. Now, an insignificant rant such as your post is normally not worth the time it takes to read. However, in this case, you–whoever you are–publicly tagging people like my husband on the internet and calling for them to “never again be allowed to work on a Republican’s campaign” when you don’t know the the facts is too egregious to let stand without comment. Jimmy Camp’s commitment to and work for your party has been above and beyond the call–and has been for more than two decades.

I can assure you I am not wrong, nor is his business partner Julie Griffiths. In fact, just for your edification and enlightenment on journalistic practice, the adage is “follow the money.” There is none. Julie would be considered a primary source if you wanted to interview her, as she is the partner who manages all the contracts for their company. You might also check directly with Gilliard’s office. The results will be the same.Why don’t you check with Frank Mikadeit while you’re at it–he’s near to completing a law degree in addition to being a veteran journalist, and can perhaps educate you further.

I guess I’m going to be have to repeat myself. I quoted an article written by an award winning journalist who himself quoted one of the OC GOP Central Committee members. These are great sources and I am looking forward to hearing from them about Camp’s alleged involvement with Agran.

I understood you the first time. I am trying to enlighten you as to how to report in the future, so that you can avoid any appearance of slander, based on a lack of understanding of the journalistic process.

Samantha, you are in Pedroza-land, which is a truth-free zone. He, in turn, is quoting Moxley, who as a pretty scattershot record when it comes to fact-checking (Pedroza’s obsequious Moxley-worshipping aside).

No one of any consequence cares what Pedroza says or thinks. My advice: do not waste another second on this wacko. You can never get that time back.

I don;t know who Scott Moxley is or even who Allan Bartlett is, but as Jimmy’s long time friend AND business partner, I can assure you they got it wrong. He had nothing to do with that race and neither did our business. Might want to check your facts. While I am sure that reporter is “award winning” he might want to ask a few more questions next time.

BTW, do we get paid by PACs on occassion? Of course. I wish we could say we got checks regarding that race since clearly he is getting mud thrown at him for something he wasn’t engaged in and we didn’t benefit from. Seems some folks are cutting some corners with their research.

You mentioned you would contact Bartlett? I would relish seeing his answer. It is downright irresponsible to attack people like Jimmy, who have spent their lifetime fighting for Republicans, because of one irresponsible quote from one person to a reporter that apparently Woodward himself admires. (I apologize for not being from Orange and not following the paper there, but I don’t know Wilcox) . Let us know what Bartlett says and what his source is. Jimmy’s wife and I are waiting…

My issue I that you basically say to punish turncoat Republicans. The article you reference points out that one guy gives a list of people he thinks worked against te Republican and is merely a quote. You take that as truth and demand action. Those are two different things. When someone demands action against Republicans, I always like to verify 3 times before trusting an off handed quote. But that us just me….

I quoted an award winning investigative journalists’ article and a member of the OC GOP Central Committee. Again if you have a problem with what they reported go tell them! Bartlett did responde to me via Facebook a few minutes ago. He says he did not say that about Camp but that is what Moxley reported. I have yet to hear back from Moxley but it is Friday. He might be busy. I also emailed his editor.

My issue is that unlike Moxley, who evidently errored in his reporting, you went beyond what was reported and asserted that my husband and others, who have practically bled for the Republican cause over the years, should not ever again work on campaigns.DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE ISSUE HERE? I will leave for the moment the irony of you trusting Moxley more than GOP consultants. Isn’t the liberal media viewed as the bane of conservatives? Yet it serves your purpose to quote the OC Weekly to further your rant. Who are you?

Jimmy’s company was hired by Agran’s fake independent expenditure SOS initiative operation (that, in truth, was really nothing more than his own campaign committee) for $10k and $20k per month for an extended period of time this year.

That’s what the campaign finance disclosure records show.

I know that Jimmy, whom I’ve always personally thought of as a good guy, is considered one of the best GOP campaign operators in the state, if not the region.

That is why it startled me to see his company getting $$$ from Agran, the most despicable and corrupt Democrat politicians in California.

I will happily reply. We received a small amount from the SOS committee for signature gathering on an initiative that everyone in irvine is familiar with. It was NOT even close to this alleged “10s of thousand”, it was a few thousand reimbursement for signatures. Mr Moxley, what company received this tremendous amount of money you are speaking of!?

This was an initiative that was of course unwarranted. The Republicans on the Irvine City Council offered to approve a city ordinance that would have put the ballot measure into affect without having to put it to voters, saving the City of Irvine thousands of dollars. Larry Agran and his fellow Democrats opposed this as the measure was meant from the start to be used to promote Agran.

Are you telling me that Camp willfully collected signatures for such a ridiculous wasteful measure that was clearly designed to promote Agran – perhaps the most despicable elected Democrat in Orange County?

First, let me clarify, the posts to date have been about Republicans turning on a Republican politician during his election. It is not about signature gathering in an initiative that Republican friends supported. But I am getting the distinct impression you hold yourself as the lord and judge over all those opinions. Secondly, your crack reporter claimed we made 10s of thousands over months. That is patently false. You don’t need a math degree to see that wasn’t the case. I am curious what the reporter thinks is the actual dollar amount, because his post is wildly inaccurate. Third, but not as pertinent to this conversation, we actually lost money on that gig and will rethink ever helping a particular consultant again. Lastly, you seem to be losing the basic argument about Jimmy and the philosophies he adheres to, which were attacked and the reason Sam and I are a little more than offended.

Well I am having a heck of a time verifying the amounts as the finance reports for the SOS Committee are not posted on the Secretary of State’s website. Moxley forwarded me one statement that he got a hold of and will send more on Monday.

You have by the way failed to address the points I just made. Jimmy jumped on board to collect signatures, by your own admission, for an initiative that was unnecessary and was in fact opposed by the Republicans on the Irvine City Council. He did so even though the initiative was a blatant attempt to promote Larry Agran, perhaps the most odious Democrat in Orange County.

How exactly did working to promote Agran, via this initiative, seem like a good idea to the lot of you?

As for my opinions, you may not have realized this yet but this is a blog. Indeed it is called the “OC Politics Blog.” You keep blathering about media but we’re not a newspaper. We’re a blog and we are all about opinions – mine to be exact. You appear to be taking umbrage with the fact that I have opinions but that is the point of being a blogger!

And it is my opinion that when you folks signed up to help Agran get this measure on the ballot you were acting against the best interests not only of the people of Irvine but also of the Republicans on the Irvine City Council.

Do you think my readers are idiots? That measure was an unnecessary waste of money. The Republicans on the Irvine City Council offered to make it a city ordinance without having to waste money on a needless election. But Agran’s intention was to use the ballot measure campaign to promote himself. You knew that and you still went to work for him.

This defines you as a Republican turncoat, whether you like it or not.

Ha! This will come as shock to a couple of men on this chain, but there is life outside orange county, and I for one, have been running races outside that county for many years. Oh yes, I even ran races outside the state…ssshhhhh, don’t tell anyone there is anything outside orange county. Sounds like a couple of bloggers and their reporter friend might get upset! That being said, you have proven to be everything the rest of the state ridicules. Intellectually dishonest and ready to throw any republican under the bus so you can make yourselves feel superior. I for one, not only use MY REAL name, I fight for republicans and not against them. So does jimmy. For more years than most people in the state. You completely miss the point because you, sadly, don’t care to see it. Good luck out there, your going to need it. I plan on working where our help is appreciated. You keep attacking….seems to be working for you

Nobody here is attacking anyone. We’re just pointing out the obvious. When it mattered Jimmy sided with the Democrats. He backstabbed a good Republican in Steven Choi.

By the way your guy Jimmy has been trying to post libelous comments here, attacking me, instead of explaining himself. If he wants to explain himself in a civil manner I’ll be happy to post his comments. Otherwise it is a simple matter to send them to our spam folder.